Chronic Pain Syndrome

Chronic pain syndrome, or also known as CPS, is a diagnosis made for people who experience long-term and perplexing symptoms. This condition is complex and challenging for health care providers since it can be caused by a lot of reasons.

There are instances that chronic pain syndrome is associated with an underlying cause, such as nerve and tissue damage but sometimes the symptoms felt do not match the condition. Treatments may not effective, thus making the pain worse.

With this condition, the pain signal is sent to the brain where it keeps on firing within your body for weeks, months and worse, even years.

What’s Happening in Chronic Pain Syndrome

Chronic pain syndrome involves a lot of factors which makes it difficult for some doctors to understand. Some healthcare professionals believe that this condition may be a learned behavior that starts from stimuli that causes pain, which may possibly be internal or external.

Chronic pain lasts for a longer time, specifically more than three months. The pain felt in chronic pain syndrome lasts longer than the normal duration for an injury to heal. This may be due to a traumatic injury which causes a longer and painful experience.

Risk Factors for Chronic Pain Syndrome

Chronic pain syndrome is composed of a lot of symptoms and that makes it hard for medical professionals to figure out because these can be caused by different factors in the body.

This condition can be caused physically and neurologically in some cases. According to research, medical professionals have found out that this condition is common to people who are suffering from psychological syndromes like major depression, somatization, hypochondriasis and conversion are prone to having chronic pain syndrome.

If you are suffering from this syndrome, you will begin to experience a lot of negative effects due to depression, intensity of pain, anxiety, lack of sleep and so on. Based on statistics, it has been reported that women have a greater chance of experiencing chronic pain that men.

Basically, professionals are thinking the source of the chronic pain may be a mental issue. But, with chronic pain from a suspected cause, the ones suffering can end up with depression and other related psychological issues. So, what is first- the mental issue or the physical problem?

Symptoms of Chronic Pain Syndrome

The symptoms usually differ depending on the type of pain, but common symptoms include:

Pain

Back pain

Headache

Neuropathic pain, which is nerve-related pain

Muscle pain

When these symptoms are left untreated, it can make this condition worse. Thus, it is important for people experiencing these symptoms to consult and seek medical advice.

When you visit a doctor’s clinic, the physician will ask you certain questions regarding the condition like-

How the pain started?

Have you been in any accidents?

What treatments have you tried?

Which of those treatments have been effective?

And which treatment makes things worse?

And importantly, the physician will take your medical history and do a general exam to help him make a treatment plan for you.

CHRONIC PAIN CAN BE TREATED

A lot of people have found some treatment for chronic pain syndrome, with either reducing the pain or, at least, managing it. There are both alternative methods, which includes natural remedies and acupuncture, and conventional methods, like medicines and therapy, that could greatly help.

Before taking such measures in alleviating chronic pain syndrome, always consult your physician to make sure that it will be safe for you.